PERFORMANCE OF LOTUS CORNICULATUS CULTIVARS AND LINES IN AN ALTITUDINAL SEQUENCE ON THE EAST OTAGO PLATEAU

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1 PRFORMNC OF LOTUS CORNICULTUS CULTIVRS N LINS IN N LTITUINL SQUNC ON TH ST OTGO PLTU W.J. Fraser, J.M. Keoghan and R.P. Heenan Invermay gricultural Centre, Ministry of griculture and Fisheries, Private ag, Mosgiel STRCT The performances of 35 Lotus corniculatus cultivars and lines of diverse type and origin were evaluated on acid and infertile soils of the ast Otago Plateau. Trials were at three sites representing an altitudinal sequence of increasing severity of climate, but with similar soil and aspect. t the lowest site, material from mild temperate Mediterranean and cool temperate climates performed best for annual, spring and autumn herbage production. With increasing severity of climate the performance of cultivars and lines from Canada and Russia (Continental) improved relative to those from milder climates. Material from South merica performed poorly relative to other cultivars and lines at all sites. Superior plants from highly ranked cultivars and lines for annual dry matter production from all three sites have been isolated and polycrossed to produce an experimental "Otago Plateau" cultivar. Genotypes from cultivars and lines of continental and cool temperate origin dominated the experimental cultivar. Lotus corniculatus showed greater early spring and autumn growth relative to L. penunculatus. utumn herbage of all cultivars and lines of both lotus species was highly vulnerable to severe frosting damage, whereas red clover cultivars and lines showed a high level of tolerance at this time. dditional Key Words: irdsfoot trefoil, lotus, evaluation, selection, herbage production, spring yield, autumn yield, frost damage. INTROUCTION Lotus corniculatus L. (birdsfoot trefoil) is a perennial species used extensively in North and South merica and urope. lthough introduced during the early 1900s (Levy, 1918), it has only recently been advocated for use in New Zealand (Charlton et al., 1978; Scott and Charlton, 1983). It has shown considerable potential as an alternative and complementary forage legume to lucerne and conventional clovers in the dry hill and high country regions of New Zealand (Charlton et al., 1978; Scott, 1985; Scott and Charlton, 1983; Widdup et al., 1987). However little work has been done to assess its performance on moist, acid and infertile soils of the high country, although Lowther et al. (1987), concluded that lack of sufficient tolerance to soil acidity is likely to limit the use of L. corniculatus on the more acid tussock grassland soils in the absence of lime. co-operative programme between SIR plant breeders and MF agronomists to develop a cultivar adapted to the South Island tussock country was initiated in 1983 (Widdup et al., 1987). This paper outlines the performance of 35 L. corniculatus cultivars and lines on acid and infertile soils in an altitudinal sequence on the ast Otago Plateau. Some aspects of Lotus pedunculatus Cav., Huia white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) performance in this trial is included to place L. corniculatus performance into better perspective. MTRILS N MTHOS Three sites were chosen in undeveloped tussock grassland dominated by snow grass (Chionochloa rigida) at Waipori, Castle ent and ilsa Craig, each with similar soil and aspect (Table 1). The 35 L. corniculatus lines formed part of a trial of 169 lines of a wide range. of legume species, arranged in TL 1: Soil and climate features from a range of sites on the ast Otago Plateau. Waipori Castle ils a ent Craig ltitude (m) Soil Type Y Y Y ph Olsen P (J.Ig/ml) SO'-S (J.Ig/g) Climate (ecember 1987-pril 1988)' Mean air temp ( oq Mean soil temp ( 0 C) Hours temp>0 C ays of frost Rainfall (mm) 'lnvermay Research Centre Radio Telemetry System 53 Proceedings gronomy Society of N.Z

2 rows in each of four replicates, in a 13 x 13 lattice design to reduce intra-replicate variation. Seedlings were established in the glasshouse, inoculated with the recommended strain of Rhizobium and transplanted into the sites during spring/early summer 1983/84, in 8 plant rows, 30 cm between plants, 2 m between rows, following mowing, clearing and removal of resident vegetation with glyphosate along a narrow planting strip. ach site received basal lime (1.0 tonne/ha) and molybdate superphosphate (250 kg/ha, (90Jo P and 11% S) ) in the first year and maintenance superphosphate (125 kg/ha) annually. Herbage yield (kg M/ha) determined from a 30 cm wide cut along the full 2.4 m length of each row was recorded from each site. The number of harvests varied with site and season from three at Waipori, two at Castle ent, one in the first full season at ilsa Craig and two in the second season. Rows were visually scored for spring vigour (0 low to 5 highest) and frosting damage (0 negligible to 3 severe) at all sites. The 35 cultivars and lines were classified into 5 origin/climate groups (Table 2). TL 2: Five origin/climate groups of the 35 cultivars and lines on the ast Otago Plateau. Groups C South merican (razil, Uruguay). Mediterranean/mild temperate (Portugal, Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Israel, South and West US, Northern New Zealand). Maritime urope/cool temperate (enmark, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, Southern New Zealand). Continental temperate (Canada, North and Central US, Russia, Lithuania). Middle ast (Iran, Turkey). RSULTS N ISCUSSION Figure 1 and Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, and Table 6 partition the lines into the five groups based on the climate/origin of each line. lthough the mean herbage production, spring vigour and summer frosting damage of each group is presented, there is considerable cultivar and line variation within groups. The performance of the highest lines for mean annual herbage production indicates the extent of this variation. Cultivars and lines from Group C and regions dominated the top rankings for herbage production averaged over three sites and three seasons (Table 3). The top ranked line overall S1843 (enmark), performed well at all three sites. However like most Group C material, performance relative to Group material declined with increasing severity of climate; whereas S1843 ranked number 1 at Waipori, its rankings at Castle ent and ilsa Craig were 10 and 11 respectively. TL 3: Mean annual yield (kg M/ha) of 3 sites over 3 seasons, of Lotus comiculatus on the ast Otago Plateau ( ). Rank Cultivar or line = 21 = S Group c S S1843 S2103 S1859 S1468 Leo S2110 S2105 S1070 Taborsky S1717 S1437 Moskovskij 287 S1803 S1687 S1522 Lot S1846 S1796 S1755 S1505 Tana S1532 Maitland S1821 S1039 S2085 S1438 Gelsvis S 1646 Franco S2101 S1629 Odenwalden S2078 G32 S1788 S1835 S2102 S2000 Saskatoon S1812 S1741 S1620 Mandan S1870 S1652 San Gabriel S1517 Yield Yield Origin Group 3770 enmark C 3660 Canada 3490 Netherlands C 3340 Canada 3300 Canada 3280 Canada 3260 Czechoslovakia C 3230 Italy 3220 Russia 3150 Yugoslavia 3130 Russia 3130 Poland C 3130 Poland C 3010 Iran 3000 France 2960 United States 2950 Canada 2940 Israel 2840 Portugal 2780 New Zealand C 2720 Lithuania 2720 Italy 2660 Canada 2610 Germany C 2530 New Zealand 2400 Uruguay 2380 Germany C 2110 Canada 2030 Canada 2000 Hungary C 1760 Turkey 1650 United States 1610 Chile 1000 razil 910 razil 400 Species Overall Waipori Castle ils a Mean (450) ent (750) Craig (1050) L. cornicu/atus (35) 2700 L. pedunculatus (55) 2450 LS (1%) NS

3 6000 sooo I.,-,- I I S S S 4000,- 10 o,- :::?! ,-,-,- -c, >- e,- 6S 0 X [X R C H M C H M C H M 1000 I--Waipori ----i f--- Castle ent i 1--ilsa Craig j Site Key Mean C==:J Highest Line -Controls Figure 1: Mean seasonal herbage production of Lotus corniculatus introductions at three sites in the ast Otago Plateau, Groups:. South merican;. Mediterranean/mild temperate; C. Maritime urope/cool temperate;. Continental temperate;. Middle ast. Controls: H Huia white clover; M Maku Lotus pedunculatus,- The performance of the approved cultivar Tana (United States), typified the performance of Group cultivars and lines as a whole, i.e. its ranking declined from 6 at Waipori to 30 out of 35 at ilsa Craig. The decline in most Group material with increasing severity of climate relative to Group was more accentuated than that for Group C, reflecting the milder climate of origin of the Group material. Material from both Group and C had good spring and autumn production (Table 4 and Table 5). Top ranking Group cultivars and lines Leo and the Leo-derived S2103, typified Group material as a whole, their performance relative to Group and C cultivars and lines improving markedly from the lowest site to the middle and highest. Leo for example ranked 20 at Waipori and 3 and 4 at Castle ent and ilsa Craig respectively. Leo and Guelph material derived from Leo (S2101, S2102, S2013, S2105 and S2110) concentrated their production mainly over late spring and summer. They showed relatively slow growth in early spring and became dormant early in autumn indicating a high inherent capacity to develop resistance to freezing with the onset of shorter days. Herbage growth becomes increasingly replaced by build up of crown and root reserves in such continental type material. The Group (South merican) lines, performed poorly and were never placed in the top 3 ranked groups (Figure 1). With increasing severity of climate there was a TL 4: utumn herbage yields (kg M/ha) at Waipori in 1985 and Groups c S 144 Cultivars and lines Sl S Sl Sl468 (Leo) 280 S 286 Groups 1985 Species L. corniculatus (35) 770 L. pendunculatus (55) 530 T. pratense (10) 1710 S 69 Values in parenthesis refer to (I "'best; 35 "'poorest) (2) 400 (4) (29) 80 (25) (16) 230 (15) (31) 0 (31 "') rankings within species 55

4 TLS: Spring vigour (0-5), spring yield (kg M/ha) and summer frosting damage (0-3) of Lotus corniculatus introductions. Groups c S Cultivars and Lines S1843 S2103 S1859 S1468 (Leo) S Species L. corniculatus (35) L. pedunculatus (55) T. pratense (10) S Spring' Vigour (6) 2.6 (19) 2.9 (14) 2.4 (22 =) O.o Spring' Yield 2150 (3) 1940 (8) 1630 (14) 1510 (19) Frosting' amage (24=) 1.0 (7) 1.0(11) 1.0 (6) 'Mean of three recordings at Waipori over three seasons. (0 = low, 5 = highest). 'Mean of three harvests at Waipori over three seasons ( ). 'Mean of four frosts at Castle ent over two seasons. Values in parenthesis refer to rankings relative to all lotus accessions (1 = best; 35 = poorest). marked reduction in the group's performance. The performance of San Gabriel (razil) typified that of Group. lthough having good autumn yield (Table 4), poor spring production, susceptibility to summer frosting damage and overall poor production, led to cultivars and lines from this group not being considered for selection in the "Otago Plateau" experimental cultivar (Table 6). Group (Middle ast) cultivars and lines performed poorly at the lowest and highest sites. Only at Castle ent was the Group performance comparable with, C and TL 6: The percentage of lines from which elite plants have been selected. Groups Waipori Castle ils a Otago Tara Hills ent Craig Plateau (overall) (overall) - (-) - (-) (-) (-) 16 (16) 41 (44) 8 (3) 13 (19) 30.5 (27) 53 (56) c 29 (37) 42 (55) 25 (43) 30.5 (43) 21 (20) 24 (15) 50 (42) 62 (38) 35 (28) 5 (4) 6 (4) - (-) - (-) 4 (2) 5 (4) Values in parenthesis refer to genotype percentage. '. ue to the mediocre performance of Group lines only two Group genotypes were included in the polycross. SPCIS Lotus corniculatus markedly out yielded L. pedunculatus at the lowest site. Yields between the two species at Castle ent were similar and L. pedunculatus produced slightly more than L. corniculatus at the highest site (Figure 1). Spring vigour recorded in early-mid October showed that L. corniculatus growth was earlier than L. pedunculatus but there was no significant difference between L. corniculatus and L. pedunculatus for spring production measured in late November. oth lotus species were significantly poorer than red clover for spring vigour and spring production. L. corniculatus out-produced L. pedunculatus during the autumn period. There was no significant difference between L. corniculatus and red clover for summer frosting damage, although both were superior to L. pedunculatus. oth species were highly vulnerable to severe herbage losses from late autumn frosting. This was clearly shown in the data for autumn yields in 1986; herbage was greatly reduced in both lotus species. y contrast, red clover showed high frost tolerance at this time (Table 4). The potential of L. corniculatus on moist, acid and infertile tussock grassland has also been shown in a sister trial (Floate et al., 1989). In the sister trial, sward performance of the approved L. corniculatus cultivar Maitland, compared favourably with Maku lotus and Huia and Tahora white clover when a small quantity (1 tonne/ha) of lime was applied and yet Maitland was ranked only 17 for annual yields in this trial. Lotus corniculatus reeding Program The co-operative effect between SIR and MF to produce a L. corniculatus cultivar or cultivars adapted to the South Island tussock country has produced two experimental cultivars to be used in establishment/ management studies and on-farm trials (Widdup et al., 1987). The "Otago Plateau" cultivar has been based on elite genotypes from each site on the ast Otago Plateau. Consequently, the cultivar has a high proportion of genotypes from Group C (430Jo) and Groups (27%) and (28%). y contrast elite genotypes selected from a trial at Tara Hills for a dryland experimental cultivar (Widdup et al., 1987) were mainly derived from Group (56%) (Table 6). Included in the "Otago Plateau" experimental cultivar 58% of the genotypes were selected from the top 10 ranked cultivars and lines for mean herbage production. On the completion of polycross isolations in 1987/88, seed from individual plants will be progeny tested at sites throughout the South Island tussock country. Simultaneously, bulked seed from the polycross, will be tested for agronomic potential in acid/infertile tussock country. These proposals include co-operation between contributors from different organisations and farmers to 56

5 ensure that the final bred cultivar has been widely tested and is accompanied by a package of technical information. CONCLUSIONS Material from cool temperate and Continental type regions dominated the top rankings for herbage production averaged over three sites. mong the 35 L. corniculatus cultivars and lines from enmark was the top ranked line for herbage production and also had good spring vigour and autumn production. The outstanding performance of top ranked L. corniculatus cultivars and lines relative to Maku lotus and Huia white clover indicates L. corniculatus to be an option for acid, infertile tussock grassland. RFRNCS Charlton, J.F.L., Wilson,.R.L., Ross, M Plant introduction trials. Performance of Lotus corniculatus introductions as spaced plants in Manawatu. N.Z. Journal of xperimental griculture 6: Floate, M.J.S., nright, P.., Woodrow, K ffects of lime and altitude on the performance of pastures based on six alternative legumes for acid tussock grasslands. Proceedings N.Z. Grassland ssociation 50: Levy, N.Z. Journal of griculture 17: Lowther, W.L., Hay, R.J.M., Ryan,.L ffect of strain of rhizobia, lime, and phosphorus on dry matter yield of three lotus species in differing environments in Otago and Southland. N.Z. Journal of xperimental griculture 15: Scott, Plant introduction trials. Genotypeenvironment analysis of plant introductions for the high country. N.Z. Journal of xperimental griculture 13: Scott,., Charlton, J.F.L irdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) as a potential dryland herbage legume in New Zealand. Proceedings N.Z. Grassland ssociation 44: Widdup, K.H., Keoghan, J.M., Ryan,.L., Chapman, H reeding Lotus corniculatus for South Island Tussock country. Proceedings N.Z. Grassland ssociation 48: